


Regrets and Apologies and Coming Home

by alafaye



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 11:35:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8576947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alafaye/pseuds/alafaye
Summary: In the midst of the aftermath of the Accords, something more horrible comes to light. Someone was inside the UN, inside a lot of governments, pushing not just for the Accords, but a registration, a cataloging, experiments...the Avengers are all licking their wounds, but their fight isn't over yet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay...so...first, thanks to my beta. Thanks to the mods. Thanks to my artist.
> 
> I wrote this using many different canons -- the base was the MCU, but I've read some of the stories from the comics about the Marvel Civil War. I also added a few things from Agents of Shield. And even though due to copyright the MCU will never include mutants, I included them here. And finally, I'm sorry. I wrote this with a few current social issues in mind way back at the beginning of the year and it has somehow turned into something even greater in the aftermath of the election. Hugs for everyone and tissues for anyone who needs them.
> 
> UPDATE: Now edited. All remaining errors are my own.
> 
> [](http://s1376.photobucket.com/user/telm_393/media/Regrets%20and%20Apologies%20and%20Coming%20Home%20by%20alafaye/COMING%20HOME%20COLLAGE%20smaller_zpstfydwadn.jpg.html)   
> 
> 
> Art by the lovely telm393. See more [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8573167)

Steve frowned, looking at the cyro tube where Bucky was...sleeping. There was a computer next to it, displaying Bucky's vitals and other information that the scientists needed. One of them read a negative number and Steve shivered, something echoing in his brain from his time in the ice. He was never sure, and no one else was either, if he remembered his time in ice, but he got flashes sometimes. A slow heartbeat, echoing in his ears thickly, and his eyelids refusing to lift; the cold that he could feel into his soul. 

Bucky said he could remember flashes of his time under -- so why would he do _this_? Volunteer to go back under? Steve had heard his reasons, but hadn't understood. He had felt sure if Bucky had given it a little more time, someone would have figured it all out. Now, with Bucky under, there was no rush to figure out how to stop Bucky from being triggered.

Steve wished he'd thought to ask Bucky if there was another reason. 

With a sigh, he left the room and walked down the hallway to a room that was similar to those little rooms in hospitals. The ones on the ICU wards -- soft lighting, nice chairs, warm paint on the walls. There was a coffee maker on a table, pastries next to it. They were the kind Steve had grown to like here -- something like a turnover, made with a fruit and grain that only grew here in Wakanda. Clint was in the room, cup of coffee and pastry on a table next to him. He was staring out the wide windows that bowed out, looking panoramic. It faced south, looking over several buildings that Steve believed were for housing Wakandians who traveled to the city center.

Clint was staring out the window, his snack likely forgotten. Steve took a deep breath, feeling his guilt over Bucky spread out; it encompassed more than just how he'd failed his best friend. He sat next to Clint. "I'm sorry."

Clint didn't turn, but Steve saw him raise an eyebrow in his reflection. "For what? And be specific. I remember your misplaced guilt."

Steve huffed. The team had teased him about it, how he would apologize for a lot that wasn't his fault. He raised his chin. "That you can't go back home. To your family."

With a groan, Clint half turned toward him. "No. No, you do not get to do that. Did you make me leave my farm, break those stupid Accords?"

Stupid. Steve wouldn't say they were stupid or good, but... He shook his head. Later. He'd deal with that later. Now he focused on Clint. "But if I had just -- ."

"Stop," Clint hissed. "We all own what we did. You decided to break a law you felt was unjust. Guess what? So did I."

 _So did I._ The words seemed to echo, something powerful about them. Had they ever talked about this? "Clint... I... "

Clint took a deep breath. "Do you think I wouldn't do my homework? That I wouldn't know everything when I answered the call? I knew that if I helped you, I would be a criminal. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I have kids, Cap. Every parent wishes their kid will live their life normally, sleep and work and eat dinner and repeat. Quiet, easy. But just maybe it's my kid in the future who wants to do some good, not as a fire fighter or a police officer or a soldier. Maybe my kid is going to want to be a superhero. Join the Avengers.

"The Accords will assume my kid's criminal. That's what the Accords are. It's not like the accountability for the police, for the army. The Accords assume that if people like you and I, if we're not leashed and collared, we will destroy lives. Murder people. Decimate cities. It's saying we need to be on a registry, on watch, and told exactly what to do and when and only after it's decided we're of use. Me? I've had enough of people telling me that all I'm good for is breaking the law. It's why I joined SHIELD, why I joined the Avengers. So people can live freely without being assumed to be a future criminal. So if my kid turns up with powers, if they just plain want to be a hero, they can be and they will be trusted."

Steve looked down. "What if we can't be trusted?"

Clint scoffed. "Don't tell me that you're beginning to believe their bullshit? Tony's propaganda?"

Steve thought about the phone he sent Tony. He knew it wouldn't be used against them, that Tony wouldn't use it to find them. He would only use it if and when he needed to. Because sure as anything, Tony and the Avengers would continue to be at the center of whatever mess next hit Earth. Tony himself had broken the Accords, done what was right in the end. _Right._

"Cap?" Clint asked, hand outstretched as though he was going to touch Steve's arm. "Come on. Talk to me."

 _Tell me I did the right thing joining you._ Steve took a deep breath. "No, you're right. We can't let anyone hold us on a leash. Assuming we're in this just to be freelance criminals."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Man, get your head on straight. Listen to what I really said. Talk to Sam and ask him about current racial disparities in the US. Call Professor Xavier and ask him about mutant rights. Or contact Phil and have him put you in touch with some Inhumans."

"I know what it means for everyone to assume you're going to break the law," Steve argued. 

"Yeah, I know. Irish American. But we're talking about something different now. Talk to these people."

~~~

Tony rewrote the equation and smirked when the program played out the simulation he needed to see. He added it to the latest suit design and the final schematic came together. He sent it to the fabrication. "Dummy, don't pick any of those pieces up!"

Dummy whirred, head drooping. You and Butterfingers eagerly wheeled over to the fabricator with a cart so they could catch the pieces as they came out. Dummy wheeled an inch toward them, and then turned around to slowly creep toward Tony. He crossed his arms. "Yeah?"

Dummy lifted his camera hopefully. Tony sighed. "Fine. You need something to do? Clean the display cases."

With a whistle, Dummy picked up a rag and began wiping down the glass. It didn't need the cleaning, but it kept him busy. Tony sat back in his chair, enjoying the familiar sounds of production and his bots. He almost hadn't rebuilt them, tried to work without them, but two days in, he'd broken down and spent the next week putting them back together. Jarvis hadn't said anything to suggest that he should have done so sooner, but he'd definitely been noticeably happier with the bots around. Friday tolerated them, but had far less patience.

Tony took a deep breath and turned back to his computer. He sent out the appropriate form to air traffic control that he'd be conducting an experimental flight in the next few days -- a condition of the Accords forced upon him without his consent. He minimized the suit program to call up the program he had looking around the UN servers. Someone had leaked some very dangerous information that was either deliberate or accidental.

"Tony?" Friday called, tone hesitant.

Tony sucked in a deep breath and looked up. "Yeah?"

"Pepper's on the phone," Friday told him quietly. "Something about the Accords?"

Tony closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Put her on."

Friday didn't say anything, but much like Jarvis, she didn't have to say anything. Her silences were weighted.

"Tony?" Pepper said. "I have had several loud people on my phone about the news this morning."

Tony nodded even though she couldn't see him. "That someone finally found out that I never actually signed the Accords?"

The sound of glass clinking came down the line just before Pepper sighed. "Do you know what this looks like? Our stocks have fallen, Tony. The board is in an uproar. They've called an emergency meeting for tonight so I will be, again, held accountable for the stupid shit you've done."

"I can be there," Tony offered.

"And if you do, you'll make it worse." she countered.

Tony groaned. "Make up your mind -- which one of us do you want to be held accountable for this?"

"I want you to grow up," she told him. "Stop playing games with the whole world. Stand up, pick a place, and stay there. Almost all of our investors and stock holders were in favor of the Accords. Especially when you agreed with them."

"They were happy because they thought I'd finally be on leash." A pointed silence fell after he finished speaking. Tony sat up, hand reaching for...something. Anything. "Wait. You thought so, too. I should have known."

"Tony --"

Someone knocked and Tony spun around. Natasha, on the other side of the glass, raised an eyebrow. Tony smirked. "Got to go. Avengers business."

"You're going to continue breaking the law and do something that's against the Accords? Don't you hang up on me, Tony. We have to --"

"Bye, Pepper." Tony pushed away from his desk and opened the door for Natasha.

"Pepper?" Natasha asked.

Tony shrugged and nodded. "No one is happy today, it seems."

She tapped her fingers on her leg. "You've put us all in danger."

He waved her into the lab and pointed to his tracking program. "We have a bigger problem than that. I made sure to digitally cover my tracks so no one found out that I'd falsified signing the documents. But in the small hours of the morning, someone leaked the news. The press and the board are all calling Pepper who's calling me. Not only does that make my life more difficult, it means we have a breach. Or the UN does. I'm still figuring it out."

"Someone could find the footage from the hanger," she pointed out. 

"Including the fact that I gave Cap the code for getting them out," he added.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why I never, Mr. Stark."

He grinned, but it quickly faded. "There's more to it than just how we chose to not follow the Accords." He opened up the file that detailed potential plans for experiments -- such as pushing Wanda to loose control so they could measure how easily they could forcibly contain her. And that was the mildest of the experiments listed.

She froze next to him, looking at the information. "So whoever leaked the information, has this as well?" He nodded and she straightened. "We have to do something about this. T'Challa will help us."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm assuming you're actually not planning on solving this on your own since you're still here," she said. "So what we need are allies. T'Challa still agrees with the Accords, but he sees them in a different light after everything that happened."

He nodded. "I hear Wakanda is nice this time of year."

She rolled her eyes. "Let me make that call. I'm a better diplomat than you."

~~~

Steve found Sam in the gym, testing out the limits of his wings from the ground. They'd tested it a little back at the Avengers' base, but the wings were meant to be used in the sky. Steve wondered if Sam was trying to figure out how to use them more efficiently in case he found himself in a place like the Bucharest car tunnels again.

"Hey, man," Sam said, smiling. "The engineers here did some modifications. I'm trying them out."

"To work from the ground?" Steve asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Got to try it before you need them in the heat of battle, right?"

"Always best," Steve agreed. He watched Sam work for a while, offering suggestions. Sam figured out pretty quick though that Steve had something he wanted to talk about. 

Sam put his wings back in their case, doing a bit of careful cleaning. "So. You've got that face on."

Steve scoffed. "Which face?"

"The face where you need to talk about shit and don't know where to start," Sam said. "I know you, man. You're pretty easy to read."

Steve took a deep breath. "I was talking to Clint. About the Accords. He said they're... That what they do is make criminals of us. Without us having to actually commit a crime."

Sam nodded. "They do. But it's nothing new for me. People see me and just think I'm going to cause trouble. Doesn't matter that I did good work in the army and they gave me a medal. Doesn't matter what I did to help the community when I came home. They see me and think I'm trouble. That's why the Accords are dangerous, Steve. They say 'see this guy? He's so different from us, we don't really understand him and that means he's going to make trouble. We have to stop him before he does.'"

Steve looked around, uncomfortable, and sat on a weight bench. "You think so?"

Sam crossed his arms. "Why didn't you sign the Accords?"

Steve frowned. "Because it's not right. It's not our fault that there are people who want to kill others. We're just trying to help. The Accords would determine who is worthy of being helped, based on diplomacy and other political bullshit. That's not... We can't work like that."

"And the powers that be don't like that," Sam pointed out. "They want to look good, to help their friends. No one else. They want to make the Avengers into the same type of people they are; the kind who would judge others without knowing them. Me? That's why I'm against the Accords."

Steve thought about that. "Rhodey didn't agree." He winced, realizing that maybe he shouldn't have made the comparison.

Sam shrugged. "We've all got our opinions. Rhodey wants to change the system from within. He thinks that will work. Is he right? I don't know. None of us do. But just because we're both black doesn't mean we have the same hopes or opinions. We're different people, Steve. I don't know whether we can change anything from within. Or whether _just_ from the inside. Maybe between us and Tony's people, maybe we can both work together to fix this."

"You're awfully optimistic that all of this can be sorted," Steve said.

Sam nodded. "When you grow up in fear, you learn how to roll with it when you get thrown another curve ball like this. Sometimes hope is all we have."

~~~

Steve looked up when he heard the jet coming in. It was sleek, almost as nice as the Quinjets. It didn't look armed, but Steve knew that it hid some surprises. He wondered if Charles Xavier had ever had to go toe to toe with the government about why a school would need such a jet, but maybe they didn't know it existed. There were, after all, several other important issues that the government might want to discuss.

Steve had seen some footage that T'Challa had given him; he'd read some articles. He had known that mutants existed and that they were observed with watchful eyes, especially after the almost assassination many years ago, but it hadn't seemed important. SHIELD had kept him busy -- maybe for a reason -- and then he was trying to find Bucky and helped Tony keep the Avengers going. He'd been so busy. How could he have missed this? Especially when the Accords mirrored the same fears and reasoning that had been used against mutants.

Dangerous. Unknown. Protect normal humans. 

Like Sam had pointed out, it was as if superheroes, as if Steve, had a disease that might contaminate the rest of the population. As though they were a whole other species.

Genetically, Steve was still human. Genetically, mutants were still part of the human tree of life.

Steve understood, to a point. People with unknown abilities, could threaten the survival of the whole group. Many units back in the war, even his, had resented getting fresh soldiers or having someone assigned for a mission; it compromised the integrity of the whole. You didn't know what the new person would do in a fight or how they fought, if they would sync with the groups.

But Steve? Steve grew up in the melting pot of 1930s New York. They'd all survived the Great Depression by pulling together and helping each other out. In the end, everyone was hungry and in need of a bed and water. It didn't matter if you were Irish or African American or Chinese. In the end, they were all in need and they got through it by not isolating themselves.

_Captain?_

The voice in his head was unexpected. Steve looked up -- the jet had landed and a man in a wheelchair got off, shadowed by someone that Steve vaguely remembered from before, back in the war. 

"There we are," Charles Xavier said out loud with a smile. He sounded the same as he had when he'd spoken to Steve telepathically. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Steve nodded. "I wish I could say the same, but I'm afraid I was kept too busy."

"On purpose, I think," Charles said. "And yes, you recognize my friend here. He goes by the name Wolverine now, but his name is James Howlett. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember you."

"Howlett," Steve muttered, the name bringing everything into focus. He'd been assigned to the Howling Commandos for a few missions before an accident had him reassigned elsewhere. 

James shrugged, chewing on a cigar. "I can't remember anything from before a few decades back. I'm sorry. I wish I had memories of fighting with you and the Howling Commandos. I'm sure it was an honor."

Steve nodded. "You fought well. Better than the average soldier, though I'm imagining now that you had a few extra aces up your sleeve."

"And you didn't?" James countered, smirking.

Steve chuckled. "You said something similar. You and Bucky joked about it a lot."

"He tell you his secret yet?" James asked.

"Secret?" Steve asked. "Bucky lost most of his memories because of Hydra."

"Nothing about Azzano?" James pressed.

What did that mean? Steve looked away, trying to see if he remembered if Bucky had ever said anything about Azzano. He saw Charles put his hand on James' arm and James turned toward him. Was Charles talking to him in his mind?

A moment later, James looked at Steve. "I only know part of it because I ran into him last year. Something about my face brought some memories back. We talked some so I could know what I was missing, though it was piece-mealed together. Ask him about Azzano some time. He around? I'd like to see him."

Steve closed his eyes. "He's..."

Charles cleared his throat. "I think someone can bring you to him. Clint, is that you?"

"Professor," Clint greeted from behind Steve. He winked at Steve. "Came to collect the war hero there. I'll take you to Bucky, Wolverine."

James nodded at Steve, looked at Charles, and then followed Clint out. Charles' wheelchair moved forward. "Memories are difficult, Captain. I'm sure you understand. If Bucky wanted you to know what happened in Azzano, he'd have told you. For now, let us talk. Clint mentioned that you needed some more information."

Steve took a deep breath. "More like perspective."

Charles half smiled. "If I could have, I would have brought Erik with me. He'd have a greater perspective than I. You and he might get along, too. He's against people registering just because they might do something."

"Erik? As in Magneto?"

"Yes. Let us talk. You need the information I have."

~~~

T'Challa frowned when his secretary said he had a call from Natasha Romanov, though he suspected it had to do with the headline news. "Ms. Romanov."

"T'Challa," she said. "How are you?"

"I'm well though I think you didn't call for a social conversation."

She audibly sighed. T'Challa knew that she wouldn't have done so if she was with people she didn't trust. Was she with Stark now? "I'm calling because I have someone who would like to visit."

"Stark," he cut her off. "I'm sure he's listening. We've all made a mess of things, haven't we?"

There was a beat of silence, likely Natasha switching speaker phone. "We have," Stark agreed. 

T'Challa began writing up a memo. "When should I expect you?"

"Just like that?" Stark asked cautiously.

As well he should. T'Challa didn't blame him. Since he had given refuge to the wanted Avengers, he'd made it clear where Wakanda stood on the Accords. However, he realized that all of this was messier than it looked on the outside. It had seemed simple, in the beginning. The AI, Jarvis, had made a clear case for it when he published in a magazine on how power invites challenge. If one were to leash the Avengers, leash people who appeared dangerous, then it would be clear that no challenge would be needed. However, with the leak, the hole in the argument appeared; a leash wasn't merely a leash -- it was instead a cage where rights were violated.

And it was clear now that someone was working on undoing the leash that some had willingly put on. 

"Just like that," T'Challa said. "Things are no longer black and white. I thought I understood so much of this, but we don't."

There was silence from them. Finally, Stark asked, "What do you think you know?"

T'Challa hummed. "I'm assuming that your misstep in signing was never meant to be found out?"

"No," Stark agreed.

T'Challa nodded. "Then it is clear someone is doing something they're not supposed to. I am curious who would have done this and if they have more planned. So, yes, please. I suspect you'll be bringing some more information with you."

"Thank you. I'll bring everything I have."

"And Stark? I want none of your bullshit when you come here."

~~~

Steve rubbed his temples. Charles looked apologetic across from him. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Steve asked. "You didn't do anything."

Charles took a deep breath. "I often find myself tripping up despite my many years of learning, from Erik and the past. It's hard. I grew up rich. Sheltered. Innocent. Privileged. I am still learning to see past that. My students and I -- we don't live very far from the Avengers' base. It's a nice area. We've had trouble before, of course. But it's almost idyllic. We're aware that we are hated by some and that we aren't welcome everywhere. Some of my students live full-time at the school because they no longer have a home. It isn't always because their mutation caused them to be separated from their families, either. For some, their homes were destroyed or their families were killed because they are a mutant. But my school is a peaceful bubble, Steve, and it's easy to forget the outside world. That's partly my fault because I'm a dreamer. I want the world to be perfect. A place where no one has to fight for anything. Where none of us are hated for what we _could_ do. Where none of us are hated simply because of fear.

"I am sorry because you slept for so long and when you woke up," Charles closed his eyes, looking pained, "nothing had changed. It has, in some ways, gotten worse."

Steve swallowed. "It almost feels like I've been led to this point. When I was running from SHIELD, I ran into Zola. Or rather, what he'd made himself into. He said Hydra had created a world in which people were willing to exchange their privacy for their security. "

"No one truly wants that," Charles said. "In the end, what we all want is to be fed, to be warm, to have a good roof over our heads, and to feel safe. For most people, they don't worry about the people next door because they've been told everyone in their neighborhood are good people. They look the same. They act the same. People have been told this by the same people who have demonized others. Their culture is different, or they're not human, or they look differently which is perceived as a threat. But it's a grand lie to get something else. It's what Hydra wanted. It's ever so easy. Just as easy as it is to forget the petty things we all worry about during the day and remember that what we really want is the same as what everyone wants."

Steve rubbed the back of his neck. "We got through the depression because we helped each other."

"Then why don't you do the same, Captain?" Charles asked.

Steve blinked. "What do you mean?"

Charles smiled and looked into the hallway behind Steve. "I think your friend here has the answer."

Steve turned. "Scott? What is it?"

"T'Challa said Tony Stark's coming?"

~~~

"This place is going to be filled with so much guilt," Clint whined, head falling back.

"What makes you say that?" Wanda was testing the soup she was making. She wrinkled her nose and glared at Vision who pointedly ignored them both. He'd probably mixed up the spices again.

Sam was watching the two of them, amused. He and Clint had bets about how long it would take them to get together. Vision had shown up about three weeks ago, asking for sanctuary. He'd publically broken with Tony, claiming he was choosing his own fate. T'Challa had bought it; Sam and Clint suspected that Vision had come here also for Wanda. It was almost adorable, except for when it was nauseating. Clint saw it as practice for when his kids grew up.

He shook his head. "Tony's massive guilt complex trying to make up for the shit he keeps doing. Steve's guilt over...well. Your guilt. Bucky's guilt."

"Bucky's asleep," Wanda pointed out. She thought it was nicer than saying cryofreeze because the reasons why were completely different; Hydra had done it to keep Bucky's brainwashing from disintergrating. The Wakandan scientists had done it because Bucky had asked.

"You honestly think we're not going to involve Bucky on this?" Clint argued. "I mean, he is the reason for Steve and Tony's massive divorce."

Wanda frowned. "I didn't think they were married." She looked at Vision who shook his head.

"Metaphorical divorce!" Clint said. "Anyway. You did hear the news, right? That Tony never actually signed the Accords?"

Wanda looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Tony has a great mistrust of authority," Vision told her. "Always has. Some kind of authority had been behind so much of his pain in his young life. And even some recently. Despite their years of friendship, Tony has always looked up to Captain America. It was painful for him to find out that Steve had kept secret Sergeant Barnes' role in the murder of his parents."

"Someone's been snooping on dad," Clint sing songed. "Have you been talking to Friday?"

Vision sniffed. Sam smiled. "I think it's natural to want to know how your parents are doing."

"Especially if they won't talk to you because you ran away," Clint pointed out.

"I did not run away," Vision said.

Clint smirked. "Then what would you call it?"

"Making my own decision about where to stand," Vision replied. "I realized that by signing the Accords, I was allowing someone else to determine my fate. When I was only a computer program, it made no difference to me what happened in the world. I was focused on helping Tony. Now that I have a body, a mind of my own... Why should I allow someone else to determine who I am?"

"I thought Tony signed for you?" Wanda asked.

Vision nodded. "He did, because the UN does not consider me a human being."

Clint took a deep breath. "Seems to me these Accords are about more than keeping us on a leash."

"You think they're about determining who's human?" Wanda asked.

"Current mutant rights in the land of the free seem to say so." Clint shrugged.

Sam nodded. "I can think of a few other groups who would argue that the US government likes to think it can decide who is and who isn't worthy of being human."

Clint tipped his head at Sam. "So yes, Tony signed the Accords on Vision's behalf -- because the UN and the US government both have not yet declared that Vision is anything other than a computer program that walks around."

"An extension of Tony Stark?" Wanda shook her head. "And what about me? Am I human?"

Steve stepped into the room. "Of course you are." He looked worn down. Clint had seen Professor X and Wolverine leave late so it was no wonder Steve looked tired. Add in that Steve had to have heard that Tony was coming for a visit and whatever rest and recovery Steve had managed to get these last few weeks was gone.

Everything was so fucked up.

Wanda smiled sadly at Steve. "I'm glad you think so."

Steve tilted his head. "And you'll always have a place with us."

"You mean with people who are all different in some way to humans?" she asked.

"Hey, as a regular Joe Schmoe, I resent that!" Clint yelled, but it was for a show and she shook her head, but she was smiling again.

Steve put his hand on Clint's shoulder. "We might need you in the next few weeks. An average Joe among the rest of us."

~~~

Natasha began the landing sequence. Tony watched the landing strip come into view. An entire delegation stood there, waiting for them. He activated the forward camera and zoomed in. None of them were his team. Just Wakandans. As though Tony was a visiting diplomat. Was he? He wasn't here in any such capacity, but he could understand how they might see it as such. He hadn't replied to any calls to justify why he'd forged his signature. Pepper had sent him one terse text, asking him to not attend the board meeting. He'd heard rumors that the board wanted him out for good. Enough with the Stark family, with their uneven tempers and refusal to play according to anyone else's rules.

Anyone else's rules.

Just...fall back into line. Make no waves. Cause no trouble. 

Tony knew he had difficulty doing that. He knew that the need to succeed and be his own person had lead him to so many failures. Knew that his impulsive nature and need to keep everyone safe was why he'd agreed to the Accords. Not agreeing to the Accords would have led to something worse -- when they were done with Wanda, it was only a matter of time before the other Avengers would be put through their paces. The leak included experiments to determine who was purely human to make the Avengers a team of people no different than most of the population. People who would follow orders and could easily be taken down if they bucked against their harness.

But then what when the next threat came at them? Not from inside, but from outside? They couldn't fight an alien force with just humans. He'd said it before, justifying Ultron. 

"You need a therapist," Natasha told him.

Tony looked over at her. "So it's been said many times."

She shook her head. "You need us the same as we need you. We're a family. We've fought, badly this time, but in the end, we're all a family. Don't worry about them not being there to greet us. As soon as we're free of the diplomatic mess, they'll be waiting for us. But until you're willing to treat us as adults, not children, and talk to us so we can fight the problem together...we're not going to really make it."

Tony tilted his head, watching the strip get closer. "A therapist isn't going to stop my thoughts. My brain..."

"Is too fast for even you to keep up," she agreed. "I know. I've learned a lot about you during the last years. If you weren't so hell bent on doing everything on your own, we wouldn't have this problem. If you just talked to Steve properly, we might not have ended up like this."

"I had a promise to keep to Pepper," Tony argued, then frowned.

Natasha smirked. "There you go again. Slow down and talk it out."

"I couldn't talk to Steve because then I'd be involved again," he said.

She nodded her head. "And then you'd be breaking your promise to Pepper. You should have made your choice before you broke her heart."

He took a deep breath. "Well, she's got Happy now so I think she's doing okay."

"But you're not," she pointed out. "Because you also broke your own heart when you broke hers."

He winced. "That's...Thank you for that. Thank you. That's exactly what I needed to hear."

She smirked. "I do so love causing you pain."

"Why? Because I hurt you so much? I actually try to avoid doing that."

"Someone has to give you the hard truths."

"And it has to be you?"

"Why not me? I don't have any connection to you really."

She got a hail from the flight tower and they finally descended onto the landing strip. They powered down the jet together. She got up first and he grabbed her wrist. She narrowed her eyes. He smiled tightly. "You do, though. You're not emotionally disconnected. I've learned about you, too. We're family."

She rolled her eyes, but accepted his insight.

~~~

"Tony Stark," T'Challa said, holding his hand out. 

Tony tried to smile, but it was stiff. He shook T'Challa's hand. "Thank you for letting us come here. I wish it was under better circumstances."

"This had better be good," T'Challa said. "If I were not king, you wouldn't be allowed here. Many here would love to see you return home right away."

Tony inclined his head. "I'm afraid this concerns all of us."

T'Challa raised his eyebrows. "In what capacity?"

"The Accords are in jeopardy," Tony said simply.

"And you did not bring this to the UN?"

"Would they believe me? Now?" Tony sighed. "What I did should not have been made public. It isn't just that my misstep was revealed. It's what wasn't released that concerns me."

T'Challa narrowed his eyes. "What are you holding back, Tony Stark?"

Tony gestured to the waiting delegation. "Maybe we could have some privacy?"

~~~

Clint sat back in his chair, shaking his head. "Could you just once show up in my life and not bring bad news?"

Tony spread his hands. "Sorry not sorry?"

"Did you just meme me?" Clint looked around. "Anyone else feeling adrift when Stark is trying to make friends again?"

This was it. The moment that everyone would take what Tony had given them and leave him out. He couldn't be part of them again. He'd broken them. Natasha had redeemed herself in the hanger bay, letting Steve and Bucky go; she stood behind Clint's chair, between Sam and Steve. Steve was looking at the table, deep in thought. T'Challa straightened, but said nothing. Vision was with Wanda and Scott in the back of the room. They'd go with Steve, no matter where he led them. Even into space if Steve decided more distance was needed.

"We're brothers in arms, Clint," Steve said finally. "He's trying."

Clint narrowed his eyes, looking around. "Wait. So all of you believe that Stark really didn't sign the Accords? That this wasn't a publicity stunt?"

"What does he have to gain if it is?" Sam asked.

"All of this?" Clint pointed out. "He kept saying he was retired, that he was just putting up the money. But he kept showing up. Kept making suits. Always had some kind of Iron Man tech with him. Just in case he said. He's always pulled this 'will-he-won't-he' BS."

"His MO is often to go off half-cocked on his own," Steve pointed out.

Clint nodded. "Right. So now he's asking for our help? He's going against his nature here."

Tony cleared his throat. "No one knows I'm here. Pepper thinks I've fucked off to some sunny beach. I think TMZ has someone who claimed they saw me in the Caribbean."

Another weighted silence. Tony looked up. "I can hand over my phone if you want to see any of the vitriol she's been throwing my way so you can trust that she isn't covering for me."

"And what about Secretary Ross?" Sam asked.

Tony winced. "He wants my head on a platter."

T'Challa tapped his screen and the computer made a beep. "He issued an arrest warrant and a statement that if you turn yourself in, Stark, nothing more will happen."

As if on cue, Tony's phone rang. He held it up. "Pepper. Probably asking where I am and why I haven't turned myself in yet."

Clint took a deep breath and pointed at Tony. "You've fucked up good this time. If I find out that this is a ruse to get us arrested again, I'm coming for your hide."

Tony held up his hands. "Fair. You can have first dibs, too."

Clint narrowed his eyes, shook his finger, and then sat up. "So. Where do we start?"

"We already have," Tony told him.

"I'm running a trace with Tony's software to see if our combined processing will find the source of the leak sooner," T'Challa said. "Our projected time frame is three days."

Clint grinned. "Great. Training? Anyone? Anyone?"

"I need a moment with Tony," Steve said.

Tony swallowed hard. "Sure."

~~~

Steve sorted through the intel Tony had brought with him, trying to collect his thoughts. Tony hadn't said anything as the room had cleared. Steve had picked up a tablet to scroll through what had been and could be leaked. It was bad -- as Tony had pointed out, it wasn't just his lie that had been found. It was everything that had happened. All the secrets that the UN had hidden to make sure that the public supported the Accords.

Everything depended on how well you spun it in the end. Tony was right -- if they didn't find out who had hacked the database, everything stood to fall apart and become worse than when Zemo has tried to take them apart from the inside. 

"I'm trusting that you had no idea that they were going to actually perform the experiments," Steve began.

Tony shifted. "Do you honestly think I condone human experimentation?"

Steve took a deep breath. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I talked to some people. Read up on things. Re-examined what I knew about everyone. You supported the Accords because you wanted us safe. I know you did. I cannot imagine that you would have done so if you'd known that they wanted to experiment on us."

"True facts, yes," Tony agreed. "They kept me from their computers so there would be no conflict of interest. These notes here, these files, I only got because I was trying to find out who had leaked the news."

Steve sat back in his seat. "But you suspected."

Tony tilted his head back and forth. "It's tricky. I want to think the UN wouldn't have, but we have proof that someone somewhere, either in the UN or somewhere else, was getting ready to propose it. If only to see what it would take to really keep Wanda under control. It wouldn't have ended with Wanda, of course."

"Tony," Steve warned. He wasn't in the mood for any tangents. Not now.

Tony groaned. "The current political atmosphere wants to think that no government would actually support anyone becoming an outcast. That no one in power would actually agree to the trials we're seeing in these leaks." He tapped his fingers on the table. "There are calls for similar actions as the Accords or stripping rights based on some outdated laws. Some powerful people back such measures, but overall, we're being told that the US government would never do such a thing. On the the other hand, Steve, the US government has been very careful about hiding how it's treated mutants and other groups of people who have done nothing wrong. And they're not the only government to do so. Knowing that, would these governments actually agree for their champions to be anything except purely human and in the image of what they want?"

"So?" Steve asked.

"So, if they wanted to make sure that their team was human, they would have to have experiments and trials. And knowing as I said that there are some governments who treat some of their citizens as animals, what if they wanted to know how to counter attacks by people who, to them, aren't human?" Tony spread his hands.

In his head, Steve swore. "So you suspected this and still supported the Accords?"

Tony shook his head. "I was hoping that if we agreed, we could control the Accords. Stop them. Get all of this addressed before it went further."

Steve huffed. "And so when some of us didn't support them, you decided to forge your own signature."

Tony sighed. "Made sense at the time."

Steve nodded. "Why didn't you just tell us?"

Tony walked toward the windows. It was a beautiful view, showcasing some of the mountains and valleys that protected Wakanda from discovery, but Steve suspected that Tony was seeing something else entirely. "When we discussed the Accords, I realized that there was really nothing I could say that would change anyone's minds, that wouldn't lead us to complete opposition with the UN and Ross."

"Like we are now?" Steve pointed out.

"I'll admit, my plans never really pan out."

"So why are you here?" Steve pushed.

Tony turned back to face him. "I didn't come here with a plan, Steve. I came to find the people who could help me make a good plan."

"Sam and Clint don't trust you." 

Tony shrugged. "So don't trust me. I know my own track record. I can admit that sometimes I can't see the trees for the forest; I can't turn my brain off, Steve. It's in overdrive and it makes me act sometimes before thinking."

"Because humans aren't machines," Steve told him. "We're not numbers you plug into an equation and then solve for x."

Tony half smiled. "I remember that one. Dad said it was one of Peggy's favorite sayings."

Steve took a deep breath. "She would trust you. She often said during the war that Howard was a bastard, but you could trust him to get you through to the end. Because that was what a Stark was made of."

Tony shook his head, looking exasperated. "Steve... I don't know if I can get us through to the end of this. This time, I'm lost. I don't know what to do. And it scares the shit out of me. Everything fell apart. I couldn't have foreseen any of this. And I don't... If I couldn't have seen that..."

Steve got up and carefully walked toward Tony. Tony looked desperate, in need of something that Steve wasn't sure he could give him. He put his hand on Tony's shoulder. "We'll see together then."

~~~

"You know you can't expect all of us to fall in line, right?" Natasha asked, ducking a punch.

Tony raised his eyebrows and blocked her high kick. "What does that mean?"

She sighed, rolled away from his hands, and jumped, trying to get on top of his shoulders. "You have this problem where you think you know what's going on. Then you expect everyone to just following along without explaining anything."

He grunted as he stood back up -- his knees were killing him, but then they always did when he sparred with her. "Actually, I am expecting Steve to know what to do and have him explain it."

She held her hand up, asking for a temporary yield. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and drank down half his bottle. She studied him for a long, hard moment. "You expect me to believe you're going to let Steve have full command of us?"

Tony shrugged. "My plans never work out so I figure let someone else take point."

She leaned in close, looking at his head. He leaned back. "What's wrong? Am I bleeding?"

"I'm trying to figure out where you got hit. I want to know who I have to thank for reorganizing your personality," she told him.

He huffed. "I'm fine, Natasha. I told Steve, where he goes I go now and I have no opinion."

She laughed. "I'm sure. Hey, Clint! Sam!"

They were working on something with Clint's arrows and Sam's wings that Tony could tell might work only in extreme circumstances, but they looked over at her call. "What's up?" Clint asked.

"Spar with him," she said. "I have to talk to Steve."

She left out the west door and they all watched her go before looking at each other. Tony hummed. "Any ideas?"

"I'd say you fucked up." Clint shrugged. "What did you say?"

Tony held up his hands. "What makes you think I did something?"

"You look like a lost duck," Sam told him.

Tony raised an eyebrow and adjusted the wrapping on his hands. Clint got into position as Sam took the time to adjust his wings. 

He said, "You and Steve, you've been at odds a lot. When you're not arguing, the Avenger thing works. Beautifully. But instead of trying to find a middle ground between your viewpoints, you argue. Pit the team against each other."

"And isn't that what caused this whole mess?" Clint asked.

Clint threw a jab at Tony's rib and Tony pushed back hard. "Yeah, well, I was wrong, wasn't I? It's why I'm here."

Sam sighed. "Pay attention. What I'm trying to say is that you and Steve? Work pretty well together. But when you fight, we're all lost. Like we have been. It's not supposed to be like that."

Clint puffed out a breath and launched himself back at Tony. Tony twisted to avoid a punch to his ears and Clint used the twist to punch him in the stomach.

"Got to say, Avenging is easier when you and Steve aren't fighting," Clint said.

"So what? Steve and I have to make up to make all of you happy?"

Clint glanced back at Sam who shrugged. "Just try to make nice and talk things out before doing anything. The world might survive this time."

~~~

Wanda studied Bucky's face, frozen in a smile. He'd been trying to reassure Steve when the cryrofreeze had taken hold of him. It wasn't perfect, this tank. It might actually do him some harm since the technology wasn't perfect; it was too bad that Hydra hadn't shared that secret. She thought of so many who would benefit from waiting until there was a cure for their disease or an organ that they needed.

Vision joined her. Silent to many, but not her. Vision was always there in her mind. They'd always been like this since an accident during training a few years ago. Her powers and his stone had done something to them both. She suspected that this might be the key to helping Bucky.

"It may not work," Vision told her.

She put her hand on the glass. "We need him. He's Steve's voice of reason. He'll make Steve slow down and think instead of getting angry at Tony. I wish we had someone for Tony, but I don't think there is such a person."

"There isn't," Vision agreed. "I tried when I was Jarvis. I sometimes still try. He listens only when he wants to."

"Then Bucky needs to be awake," she said. She nodded at the waiting scientist who began the sequence to end the cryrofreeze. Vision pulled her back, arm tight across her waist. He was always there for her. Doing his best for her. It wasn't always the right choice, but he tried. Few others had. And he'd been there so often for her in the months after Pietro died. 

The Wakandan warriors lifted their weapons, ready in case Bucky woke up fighting.

She reached out with her mind and waited until she felt him stir. Vision joined her in her wait. They were looking for the place in Bucky's mind where Hydra ruled.

They could and would do this.

~~~

Natasha found Steve at the observation window. The room was locked. Vision and Wanda perfectly still as Bucky looked at them. The medical devices that monitored him was showing that while he was out of the cryofreeze, he wasn't fully awake yet.

Steve tilted his head toward her. "They didn't tell me. They just...decided to do it. Wake him. Fix him so those codes will never work again. They didn't ask me."

She put her hand on his arm. "Why should they ask you?"

He shook his head. "I'm... Natasha, I'm his brother. All he's got left. And he can't decide if they should do this. He was asleep. If anyone gets to say if he wanted this, it should have been me."

"They mean well," she pointed out.

He huffed. "Yeah and what about respecting his wishes?"

She tilted her head. "I thought his wish was to get Hydra out of his brain? So he can keep fighting."

He sighed. "We're not fighting his fight right now. We're fighting... None of this is Bucky's fight."

"It's everyone's fight, Steve. That's why Tony's here."

He scoffed. "Yeah, sure. It's about Tony having realized he bit off more than he could chew."

She smiled. "Actually, it is."

He fulled turned towards her. "I'm sorry?"

She crossed her arms and looked down into the room, but nothing had changed. "Tony is beginning to realize that he can't make everyone do what he wants just because he thinks he's right. He's realized that he isn't the center of the world. Ever since Afghanistan, he's been changing. He didn't react very well -- his anxiety, PTSD, it manifested as a need to control everyone so no one else is hurt the way he was. But he's beginning to realize he can't save the world on his own."

She looked at him. "I'm not sure if you'll do the same."

He blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

She raised an eyebrow. "No one can save the world on their own. That's how the Avengers should work, Steve. We're all of us here to save the world -- together."

~~~

_What are you doing, Wanda?_

_I'm opening his memories, Vision._

_This is too much. You didn't say you were going to do this._

_We have to._

_No. We've done what we needed to. It's time to go back._

_Bucky will be of no use to Steve if he doesn't remember right._

_Too much time has passed. They are different men now._

_I am choosing to believe in hope._

Bucky blinked and looked around. "What did you do?"

Wanda smiled softly. Vision was watching her carefully, but he didn't remove his arm from her waist. The Wakandan warriors remained on guard and the technicians were all half turned toward the door, waiting to run. Warrior and technician like were watching to see if Bucky would start screaming or hitting something, someone.

"We helped," Wanda answered. "Because we need you."

Bucky coughed -- his throat was always dry after cryro. "Why in the world does anyone need a broken assassin?"

"Not broken any more," Wanda pointed out. "We started healing the rift in your mind."

Bucky looked beyond her to Vision who nodded. "Where's my rifle then?" he asked.

~~~

Sam shook his head, looking out into the forest that wrapped around the palace. Clint swore under his breath. He'd been doing that a lot.

"They do know what Barnes did, right?" Clint asked.

Sam shrugged. "I think so? Natasha is storming around so I'm wondering if maybe they didn't?"

Clint took a long drink of his beer. "God damn shit show. I called it."

"You know what I think?" Sam mused. "I never should have gotten involved with the Avengers."

Clint held out his bottle and Sam clinked his against it. "Think we should go in yet?"

The roof shook and somewhere in the distance, they could hear someone yelling. Clint finished his beer and opened another one. "How about never?"

~~~

"Let me go!" Tony yelled, hands clenching and unclenching despite the hold Wanda on him.

"Will you swear to not attack anyone?" Steve asked, holding his shield up, Bucky behind him.

"Bastard killed my parents!" Tony yelled.

Bucky rolled his eyes, but held his tongue.

Natasha wanted throw something at Stark, something that wouldn't do too much damage. "You've seen my psych profile, Stark. I only had the bare minimum of brain-washing because I was already loyal to Russia. Imagine what brain-washing they subjected him to get him to comply with their orders."

Tony swore. "He knew what he was doing."

Vision stepped toward a computer and called up some files. Natasha cocked her head, wondering what he was up to. He was difficult for her to analyze and understand; he was like Jarvis, a program that would calculate all paths and made a decision that he felt was best, but there was nothing for her to read to know what he would do.

A hologram of Hydra files appeared in the air. Vision stepped between Tony and Steve. "After the events of December 16th, 1991, the Red Room lost contact with their assassin. He'd gone off grid before, usually for no discernible reason. One scientist hypothisized that sometimes the mind wipes failed. It was noted, he said, that despite having no memories after he fell from the train, there was a certain part of his psyche that remained loyal to the United States and to Captain Rogers in particular. When they managed to find him after killing the Starks, it was almost a year later. They asked him why he'd run."

Vision looked at Tony. "This was his reply: 'My hands are stained not just with the blood of innocents, but of my friends as well.' General Lukin of the Red Room told him that the people he killed, the ones he thought were his friends, weren't. They were traitors to his cause. The Winter Soldier asked what cause. They replied that they were building new world of strength and security. The reply enraged him so much that he almost killed every soldier on base. After, they had to wipe his mind so often they thought they had lost him. Because he refused to believe that he'd done the right thing. Because he refused to believe in their cause."

Silence fell. The report reverberated in Natasha's mind. Something about it made her think that she'd been there for it. Had helped to bring the Winter Soldier down so the scientists could sedate him. She looked up and found Bucky looking at her apologetically, as if he remembered, too. She smiled tightly and looked at Tony.

"Wiping the mind cannot destroy the core personality," Wanda said. "I read about it when I was trying to see if I could help. Bucky has always been who he was. Always. The reports we have always mention that Bucky, the Winter Soldier, could not be used for very long. He would always fight against his handlers and the scientists because in the end, he was a prisoner of war, doing things he did not want to do. Doing things he would never do if his mind, his memories, weren't wiped over and over again."

Tony narrowed his eyes. She tilted her head, assessing and weighing. "The report here says one thing clearly: the Winter Soldier only killed your parents because his captors wiped him and used a blank slate."

Natasha saw the moment Tony got it. He was still angry and likely would be for a long time, directing it unfairly to Bucky who would take the blame, but there would not be any more trouble. Wanda must have seen it, too, because she waved her hands.

Tony sagged right down to the floor, leaning against a chair. Steve gave his shield to Bucky who stared blankly at it. Natasha took it off his hands. He looked grateful. 

"Tony?" Steve softly called.

Wearily, Tony tilted his head back. "Cap?"

Steve smiled a little. "You okay?"

Tony held out a hand. "I will be when I get vacation."

"Might be never," Natasha said.

Tony glared. T'Challa knocked on the door. "I am sorry to interrupt, but we have a lead."

~~~

"We're sure?" Clint asked, not looking away from the map displayed on the far wall.

Steve was looking at the data listed next to it. It was a small base, in the middle of the woods; it was in a country that hadn't signed the Accords, being small, but it was neighbored by several countries that had. Going there would be the exact action the Accords was meant to prevent. However, it was where the leak had originated from. It wasn't any sort of recognized military base, but it had all the basics: munitions, sleeping barracks, a separate office for higher ranks.

T'Challa nodded. "We're sure. We checked several times."

"And we're sure that no one inside was acting without orders?" Sam asked.

Tony shrugged. "Could be, but knowing what we know now, it isn't too unlikely that it was sanctioned. This country is small enough that it would, for diplomatic reasons, agree to participate in the leak. This base could also have been abandoned to allow one of the countries part of the Accord to do what they needed to, to hide who was leaking the information."

"You said maybe someone wasn't releasing the rest of the information to spin it right," Steve argued. "If this is an inside job, they don't have to release the rest of it."

T'Challa opened another file, detailing more information that could be leaked. "And yet all evidence points to the fact that someone hacked into all the files."

Steve started pacing. "What if it's both?"

Tony turned toward him. "Someone who works at the UN controlled by someone from the outside?"

"Someone from the outside who wants that information," Steve agreed.

"Who would want to know?" Scott asked. He shrugged awkwardly when they all looked at him. "Everyone has a reason for breaking and entering, right? Sometimes it's money, sometimes it's the thrill. So who's the kind of person who would need what was in these files?"

Sam nodded. "Once we figure out the why, we can figure out who wanted them."

"What could someone do with this information?" Clint asked.

Tony frowned, straightening. "You discredit me. My company. My company's work. Or you discredit the Accords. Discredit the UN. Discredit the Avengers -- permanently."

"Who gains if the Avengers fully disband?" Sam asked. "Not just the villains, okay? Who gains if we're not here to do what we do?"

Vision stepped up to the computers and pulled up the files on the proposed experiments on those considered not human, like Wanda, Steve, mutants. "What happens if this becomes public?"

"Depends on how you spin it," Tony said. "One way, you have people rallying and calling for equality."

"Another way, you have people saying it's justified," Steve said, remembering his conversation with Professor Xavier.

"What if it's more than one goal? More than one agenda?" Wanda asked. "The Avengers are a group of people with differing opinions and ideas. We're a symbol that people of different backgrounds and ideas and wants can work together for good. But maybe someone isn't happy with that -- several people maybe. Someone wants genetic testing, to keep different people separated. Someone wants to keep us discredited to prove that being different can lead to problems."

They all fell silent, her words seeming to echo around the room. "There are people with those ideals in every country," Sam pointed out.

T'Challa froze. "Zemo used the Avengers and the potential thread they posed. That's how he brought the UN together."

Tony was messing with the computer screens. "Let's put the pieces together. And our suppositions. We know someone wants to experiment on us." 

Steve crossed his arms. "Why?" 

Tony winced. "To see what we can do. Also potentially to know how to stop anyone with our powers. They could also mean to create a team of ordinary humans as champions of whatever cause the politicians wanted."

T'Challa leaned forward. "We also suspect that someone hacked into the files and deliberately leaked your lie to the press." 

Tony nodded. "But they didn't leak the rest of the information. We know it was an inside job, but suspect that it isn't just an inside job. The people behind it presumably stand to gain something from having no team like us. And whoever is behind was counting on me to run further, rather than closer, to you."

"Plenty of people think we created the chaos," Sam pointed out. "To them, we didn't stop it; we created it. In fairness, some of it, we did."

Natasha nodded at Tony's notes. "They also wanted to use our guilt, our trauma, to drive us apart."

Steve took a deep breath. "There are plenty of people inside the Avengers base who knew about our rift. Lots of inside sources."

Tony tapped his chest, where his arc reactor used to be. "Let's do this. Imagine I went off on my own when the news broke. Tried to tackle the people behind this head on. Word reaches you here. But not only of what I did, but what I might be doing."

"The news would have been spun; Tony Stark has gone crazy and was attacking the very people he purported to support," T'Challa pointed out. "Calls for your arrest would have been loud, Tony. Calls for greater control over people who are different. People claiming someone like Wanda was behind your behavior."

Natasha looked at Steve. "What would you have done?"

Steve winced. "Gone off on my own. Well, with some of you. But I'd have left Wakanda. I'd have thought Tony needed help. I promised him I'd come if he needed help. I wouldn't have waited for a call."

Tony added 'groups looking to capture Bucky' to his notes. Bucky scowled, but was silent. 

Vision stepped back. "So some of us would have left the protection afforded us here in Wakanda. We would have become sitting ducks for whoever wanted to arrest us. They have Tony in their hands as he walks right into their trap. They soon have us. A report is released that the criminals formally called the Avengers are now under custody."

"Another leak -- this time about the experiments," Natasha said.

"And without Steve here being hyper-vigilant about Bucky, someone grabs him," Sam said, pointing to Tony's last note.

"For experiments?" Bucky growled.

Sam nodded. "About how badly the serum can go. They don't have Bruce, so Bucky is the next victim up."

Tony leaned forward. "T'Challa, can you get me reports of anything unusual from space?"

"Of course. One moment."

Steve frowned. "Tony?"

Tony took a deep breath. "Even before I was working on Ultron, the World Security Council wanted a team to fight aliens, right? So what if someone somewhere has a report of another incoming invasion?"

"They'd need us, though," Clint argued.

"Unless someone believes that those of us who are different are part of the threat," Tony countered.

"I got my powers from the mind gem," Wanda whispered. "As did Vision. For most people, it's a clear connection between those different and any alien threat."

Steve looked at all of them. "I'd read that some thought that mutants were humans who had been granted their powers by celestial beings. By aliens."

"Eliminate the threat on Earth so the threat out there has no allies on Earth?" Sam whistled. "Whoever thought that up was out of their mind."

Clint cleared his throat. "They're not technically wrong. Inhumans are human with alien DNA."

"But Inhumans and mutants aren't our enemies," Steve said. "They're on our side."

"I've found something," T'Challa announced. He minimized the screens to bring up what looked like a planet. It didn't look threatening; some blue, some green, but also some purple. There was, however, several black shapes around it, almost like satellites on Earth. Only bigger. "This planet is on a trajectory heading for Earth. It has a viable atmosphere for supporting life. This could be the threat Tony is looking for."

Tony nodded. "A large alien force would require Earth to band together and fight. Any wars over oil or water or food would have to stop."

"Tony, what you're proposing wouldn't work," Sam said. "Whoever is behind this would need be taking people from the streets, their work places, from their homes. It wouldn't work now with people recording arrests and civil rights violations. They post it to the internet, reporting everything every second it happens."

T'Challa cleared his throat. "I have a report from three weeks ago that the Nexus was broken into. Whoever we're looking for has control of the internet and could control what's posted."

Tony looked over to Steve. "Call it, Cap. What are we doing?"

Steve raised his eyebrows. "If we leave Wakanda, we're playing right into their hands. My experience is that sometimes you don't do what someone wants you to."

Wanda wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm sure they have something to contain all of us. With no one from the outside to get us out this time."

"Release the information ourselves?" Clint suggested.

"Worked once, no guarantee it'll work again," Natasha said.

T'Challa began typing. "I could call for a special UN meeting."

Steve looked at Tony. "Could you get into the Nexus again?"

Tony smirked. "If there's a physical door, I can get in."

"And maybe a few others, too?" Steve asked.

"Once a door is open, it can stay open," Tony assured him.

T'Challa tilted his head. "So what is our plan?"

"We spin nothing," Steve said. "We only present the facts we have. About the incoming planet. About the planned experiments. We need countries willing to give everyone, human and mutant and Inhuman, a chance to be part of the group to meet whomever is on that planet. It could be a threat. It could be peaceful. We won't know until we try to communicate."

"What do you need from the Nexus then?" Natasha asked.

Steve smirked at Tony. "Proof that the break in was related to controlling the information getting to people."

~~~

Natasha watched the jet with Tony and Steve take off. They were flying in the opposite direction of her jet. Sam, Bucky, and Clint were with Steve; T'Challa, Scott, Vision, and Wanda were with Natasha. They had mixed up the teams to confuse whoever was watching them. 

T'Challa had given an informal statement that he had given sanctuary to Tony. Several Wakandan warriors were traveling with all of them for protection. 

Tony had sent out a memo to Rhodey who was still recovering. Rhodey had vowed that if they needed him, he'd suit up and help them out however they needed.

The UN would convene in four hours. Natasha hoped it was soon enough to stop whoever was behind the whole mess.

"You have doubts," T'Challa said.

She took a deep breath. "These last few years, it feels as though we've been running to catch up. Reacting to what's happening rather than being one step ahead."

"People think I'm calling the special meeting to make Secretary Ross accountable," T'Challa told her. He held out a tablet which showed a news report. "For failing to keep his American citizens beholden to the Accords."

Natasha smiled a little. "I'm just going to assume that you have encouraged these rumors."

He smiled back. "Naturally."

~~~

Clint finished sorting his arrows and set them on the seat next to him. One of the Wakanda warriors nodded, admiring them. Clint had had many discussions with T'Challa's men. He agreed that while a gun was good and well, sometimes an old fashioned weapon did just as good a job if not better. The warriors had slipped him some Vibranium tipped arrows and he looked forward to using them.

He looked across the aisle to Bucky who was keeping a sharp eye on Steve and Tony. Had been ever since he'd come out of cyrofreeze. Steve and Tony could be good leaders together, for everyone.

"Tony's learned his lesson, I think," Clint told Bucky. "He wouldn't hurt Steve."

Bucky pressed his lips together. "No one ever intentionally hurts Steve."

Clint looked down at his hands. "But he does make it hard to not hurt him."

"I suppose in a way," Bucky conceded. "He's got pretty high standards."

Clint smirked. "He wouldn't say so."

"If only we could all be as decent as he wants us to be," Bucky muttered.

Clint looked over at Steve and Tony. "Tell you what. When this mess is over, I'll teach you a few ways of fucking around with Tony. Keeps him on his toes and humble and all that."

Bucky smirked. "I think I'd like that."

~~~

Steve noticed that everyone was giving him and Tony privacy. He wondered if it was on purpose and if so, who had made that order? He'd place his bets on Natasha -- she had given him enough hints to make nice and actually talk with Tony.

"Bucky seems to be doing better," Tony said quietly.

Steve nodded. "Thanks to Wanda and Vision. I'm grateful. Not sure Bucky is, but at least he's got my back again."

Tony stiffened in his seat. "Right. Of course."

Steve licked his lips. "Our backs, I mean. You'll be standing next to me."

Tony looked at him. "Will you let me?"

"I've always been honored to fight next to you," Steve told him. "We've had our differences, but you always came through in the end. You're one of the finest men I've ever fought with."

Tony leaned back in his seat. He wasn't in his armor yet, but Steve knew it was in the briefcase between his feet. He wondered if Pepper had ever seen the signs that Tony would always be a super hero, but maybe she hadn't. Maybe she hoped that Tony would follow through on his promise. But that was the thing, wasn't it? Once you got in, you never got out. You didn't ever leave. The call would always seduce you. Steve had known many men like that, especially during the war. His men had been injured so severely that the higher-ups would have given them an honorable discharge, but they all went back out. You didn't leave your men behind.

"I missed you," Steve admitted quietly. "I didn't realize how much I depended on you until you weren't there. On hand, on call. There for me, whenever I needed you."

Tony was silent for a long moment. "Me or my tech, my resources?" 

Steve looked at him. "You."

Tony's eyes wandered, as they always did when he tried to figure something out. "I never apologized. I just... I should have tried to actually talk it out with you. I thought I could force things through and talk it out after."

"Enough, Tony," Steve swore. "We've been through this song and dance. Should we have talked about it? Yeah. But we thought we knew best and acted. We know better now for the future."

"Do we have a future?" Tony asked.

Steve cautiously put his hand on Tony's knee. "I think we do. If we try. If we let others help us and if we don't let our tempers get the better of us."

His heart tried to rabbit out of his chest, waiting. Then, he felt Tony cover his hand. When Steve looked up, Tony smiled. "We'll try."

~~~

T'Challa squared his shoulders as he walked up to the podium. "If rumors are to be believed, I called this meeting to address the Accords. That I wish to have them reviewed so that the Avengers and others international vigilantes will be punished more severely than before. If rumors are to be believed, I also want Secretary Ross called up to answer for the actions his citizens. Citizens who signed or, in some cases, didn't sign the Accords."

He looked around the assembly. "Those rumors are false. That is not why I am here."

One diplomat raised his hand, calling for silence. He stood. "I never believed these rumors. You are still harboring the fugitives who refused to sign the Accords. You help make a greater mess that called for more severe punishments."

T'Challa bowed his head a fraction. "A rumor as well, but in this case, it is true." He smiled when the council erupted. "I have also given sanctuary to Tony Stark."

The first diplomat stepped forward, toward the podium, and called for quiet. The assembly settled after a few minutes of intense debate. He turned to T'Challa. "Explain yourself, Your Majesty."

"The Accords remain, in the spirit they were made, a good idea," T'Challa said. "We hold our police officers and military accountable. There are rules they must follow or chaos will ensue. We cannot allow them to go unchecked. However, anything that is new is faced with challenges. A baby arriving in this world is faced with the greatest challenge of all: the challenge of being alive, of simply breathing on one's own. Soon, the challenge of to sit up. A nation, when it is created, will face many challenges. A king will face those who will challenge him to prove his worth. I failed my test, spiritual as it was. 

"And that is why I am here now, to fix my error. The Avengers were created in good faith, to come to our aide and help all people. Mistakes have been made. This is why they should be held accountable. But rather than support them from the the moment of their conception, we ignored them. And then we blamed them alone, for a mistake that we all made. A mistake we had a part in. We live in a world where everyone can have a voice. Injustices can be called out and equality demanded. The Avengers strove to meet these calls and demands. And we treated them as badly as we treated our fellow citizens."

T'Challa tapped the tablet he'd put on the podium and a hologram projected next to him. The lights in the hall dimmed. A bit dramatic, but Tony Stark was good at presentations. T'Challa smiled. Then he stepped away from the podium.

Steve and Tony stepped from the shadows. Three Wakandan warriors moved to form a pyramid behind them.

"Hello," Steve said. He pointed toward the hologram floating in the air. "This is the Nexus where all internet communication passes through. Recently, it was broken into."

The camera panned to three IT specialists who looked nervous but relieved. One of them waved at the assembly. "Last week, our building was broken into and a program inserted into our systems. It would have monitored all internet communication -- emails, texts, Twitter accounts, everything. And by doing so, it would have covered anyone reporting any human rights violations. We filed a report with the police. With Mr. Stark's help, we were able to remove the program from our systems. We wrote a report about everything that happened for you to review."

T'Challa typed into his tablet again. An email with the files about the incoming planet, about the mutant and Inhuman experiments, was sent to every UN representative. He then called up the documents into a hologram that was projected onto the wall to his left.

"There were bigger plans for the Avengers beyond calling them to heel. I came into possession of these documents from a leak that was discovered when Tony Stark's forged paperwork was revealed. It is unclear if these and the break-in at the Nexus are connected. However, I cannot help but see them as incidents of the same plan. I don't know what that connection is, but it is time we found out and change how we move forward. With the Avengers, with mutants and Inhumans, with anyone we might think too different to be safe. Move forward to a place where we examine facts instead of judging by what we think we know."

T'Challa pointed to the planet. It was clearly on a crash course with Earth. "And it is time we, that all of us, regardless of any small difference, come together to meet the future together."

_Epilogue_

Steve smiled as he stepped off the jet and onto the grass of the Avengers' East Coast base. Home. Sam patted his shoulder as he walked past. He was thick as thieves now with Bucky. Natasha bumped his shoulder as she followed. Wanda, hand in hand with Vision, was next, looking far happier now that they were back at the compound. Clint was taking the jet back to his family, but had promised to be back soon. Wakanda and T'Challa had been good for all of them, but it was nothing like here. They had spent so much time here, training and learning and growing here. It was home.

Tony was last out of the jet. He stayed shoulder to shoulder with Steve. "I missed this."

Steve couldn't stop his grin. "There's nothing like coming home."

"I think everyone's going to be happy we're all back," Tony said.

"Are you?" Steve asked. "Missing home and being happy to be home are two different things."

Tony smirked. "Home isn't a place. It's our people, Steve. We're all together again. I've been happy since I flew into Wakanda with Natasha."

Steve nodded. He understood. Since they'd started clearing the air, actually talking, he was feeling so much better. "We got a lot of work to do."

Tony held out his tablet. "I hear the UN has already tapped Reed Richards and Jane Foster to send a team to that planet."

"As long as they don't ask you to go," Steve said. "We need you with us."

Tony smiled and ducked his head. "A boy does like to hear that he's wanted."

Steve blushed, just a little. "I wouldn't have it any other way, you know. I said it before. I need you at my side."

"Same goes for me," Tony agreed quietly. 

They shared a smile and followed their team into the compound.


End file.
